Richard J. George, Ph.D.

Greenlife Grocery Customers Wary of Whole Foods

May 11, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Some of the locals are up in arms that Greenlife Grocery announced plans last week to be acquired by a national chain. But it's not Kroger, Supervalu or Safeway; it's Whole Foods. What concerns should fans of Greenlife Grocery's Chattanooga, TN and Asheville, NC stores have about being acquired by Whole Foods?      [more...]

This article is similar to yesterday's discussing Ahold's purchase of Ukrop's with intentions of changing the banner's name to Martin's Food Markets. In this case, Whole Foods market positioning is probably closer to that of Greenlife Grocery's than Martin's is to Ukrop's. Nonetheless, Greenlife customers feel threatened and the key to a successful transition is to mitigate their concerns.

Keeping the Greenlife name (unlike Ahold's decision with Ukrop's) and making a pledge to continue to support local farmers (an issue of importance to many shoppers) will go a long way toward having Greenlife loyalists realize that the potential economic benefits of a Whole Foods relationship outweigh any downside perceptions.